How to ignore folders in a batch process?

TP
Posted By
Tommy P Huynh
Jan 30, 2007
Views
364
Replies
9
Status
Closed
I have a large folder tree and want to process most of the folders with a batch action. However some folders contain photos and videos I don’t want to process. Is there any way to mark them so PS ignores them? Does prefixing them with an "_" do that?

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C
chrisjbirchall
Jan 30, 2007
You’d have to try it, it I think a tilde [~] might do the trick.
DR
Danny_Raphael
Jan 31, 2007
Interesting question…

I can confirm in PS 7.01 that a PS batch process does not ignore images in a folder if (a) the folder name and/or (b) the name(s) of any images within the folder begin with a leading ~ or _ character.

I’d almost bet the farm that’s true with CSx versions as well.

———

Is "moving the folders that contain files you do not want modified" to a folder outside the main folder tree, applying the batch process to the remaining folders in main folder tree, and then moving the unmodified folders "back" not a feasible option?
DR
Danny_Raphael
Feb 3, 2007
I had a late thought on this…

Suppose one has files saved among nested folders like this:

\Main
……….\West
……………File 1.jpg
……………File 2.jpg
……….\East
……………File 3.jpg
……………File 4.jpg

In Bridge I know one can select individual images within a single folder.

Question (I don’t have CS2, so I cannot test the following):

Can one select individual images across multiple folders within a folder tree, e.g., File 1.jpg and File 4.jpg in this example?

If so, that would be one approach the OP’s situation.
C
chrisjbirchall
Feb 3, 2007
Danny: How big’s your farm? 🙂

Tommy: In CS3 (Beta) You can show all the images in the subfolders. Also, you can get bridge to show only images of a certain type (RAW, Jpeg, TIFF etc) so with these new features you would also be able to batch process them in one hit.

In Bridge (CS2) you could also group all images of a certain type into a "Collection" which should allow you to batch process them in one hit regardless of their location. I’ve never tried this however, so I won’t bet the farm. 😉

Chris.
DR
Danny_Raphael
Feb 3, 2007
Thanks for the confirmation/sanity check, Chris, esp. the info on CS3. That’s encouraging news.

1. By "group by a certain type," does that mean "file type" only or are there other grouping criteria options?

2. Would it buy anything to assign a unique "rank" value to images of interest and then invoke batch to process images with that rank?

—————–

re: I’d almost bet the farm that’s true with CSx versions as well.

When "betting the farm," qualifying verbiage is critical. 🙂 In this case I should have stated something like, I’d almost bet the farm that without overriding default processing behavior, that’s true with CSx versions as well.

Where’s a lawyer when you need one? 😉
MD
Michael_D_Sullivan
Feb 3, 2007
I’m right here. Just put down a retainer and we can talk. ;^)
TP
Tommy P Huynh
Feb 6, 2007
Thanks for the replies. Well I can confirm that the ~ doesn’t work with CS2. On interesting bit is PS will hit the folders in alphabetical order, so if you rename that folder with a ~ after it starts the action, it moves the folder to the "front" of the que which has already been passed so it is skipped.

Yeah, I can do the non-linear selecting in Bridge CS3 but CS3 for me has lost the option to apply PS actions to my selection. I couldn’t find it anywhere.
C
chrisjbirchall
Feb 6, 2007
CS3 for me has lost the option to apply PS actions to my selection. I couldn’t find it anywhere.

Look in Bridge Prefs. Make sure all the "Start-up" scripts are selected.

Danny: CS3’s Bridge has so much more flexibility in the "ranking" department – and more to come in the final release from what I can gather.

If you’ve not downloaded the free Beta yet – give it a go!

Chris.
DR
Danny_Raphael
Feb 7, 2007
Tommy:

Are you invoking Batch from Bridge or from Photoshop?

============

Chris…

Unable to try CS3 under Win 2K…

But the good news is my new PC arrived literally about 2hr ago from the nice folks at Dell. Opted for XP over Vista, so now I’ll be CS3-ready when CS3 ships. XP + PS7 = not qualified for CS3 beta. I’ll be patient.

Woo-hoo! 🙂

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